What is a Video Game Developer?

A game developer is a person who is responsible for creating the programming code and rendering the game. Usually a team is involved in the development of a game – project managers, artists, game designers, testers, sound engineers, copywriters and many others. The game developer deals with programming visual effects and animation, animating characters and monsters, making an interface, controlling the speed of the game, etc.

Gamedev, who develops a game alone, should be even more versatile and, in addition to basic skills, be able to independently create a concept and design of a game, master the basics of jurisprudence, and understand the procedure for obtaining a patent for a finished project.

The profession of a game developer is especially in demand in the field of online games and is one of the most popular in the labor market. Independent game developers mainly make mobile games and small indie projects. If you are an independent developer and need help building a game, contact the game development studio.

Responsibilities of the game developer

• The responsibilities of a game developer typically include:
• development of the client side of the game project;
• development of general game logic and client-server interaction;
• ordering creatives with subsequent testing and optimization;
• development of event architecture;
• UI layout using layouts received from designers;
• creation of characters, buildings and other content for games;
• database design;
• assessment of project performance, optimization.

Additional responsibilities may include:

• defining the art style of the project;
• integration of third-party SDKs;
• attracting users to the game, working with advertising networks and communities;
• analysis of user behavior, actions to keep people in the game;
• setting up product analytics tools;
• conducting A / B testing;
• preparation of analytical reports;
• monitoring and moderation of comments on the App Store and Google Play;
  maintaining game profiles on social networks (writing posts, holding contests, etc.).

Game developer requirements

• Basic requirements for a game developer:
• knowledge of the gaming market, gaming experience;
• understanding the basics of OOP;
• excellent knowledge of HTML5, CSS3, TypeScript and JavaScript ES6;
• knowledge of relational databases and SQL;
• experience in game testing (functional and regression);
• knowledge of Unity, Jira and Confluence;
• ability to conduct testing on mobile devices;
• skills in working with shaders (programs for starting processes on a video card);
• knowledge of Git;
• good knowledge of mathematics.

Occasionally, specialists are required to:

• good knowledge of the C # language;
• ability to develop autotests and knowledge of Selenium / Appium;
• understanding the principles of social networks and creating games for them;
• skills in layout of adaptive interfaces in uGUI;
• knowledge of the Vue.js framework;
• experience in 3D editors;
• experience in commercial development on Node.js according to ES6 standards.

How to start your journey?

To get your first experience in game development on a PC, you can start creating mods for your favorite games. These are modifications, additions, which, as a rule, are not made by the developers themselves, but with the help of fans or other development teams. They can improve the visual component of a video game, change the gameplay, add new game elements (characters, music, items, special effects, etc.), or completely change the whole game completely, creating a practically new one. Such additions are often made using a set of development tools – SDKs, which are included with games, or are developed separately.

Modding is a good start to the game development path. It will allow you to better understand the internal logic of games and provide some experience in development. In the process of creating a mod, you can meet other modders on various fan forums and learn from them certain knowledge that will help in your development in the field of game development.

Thus, we briefly reviewed the profession of a game developer and talked about how you can start your journey in this direction. If you want to seriously engage in the creation of games – choose the C ++ language and the engine corresponding to your needs. Unity and C # are your best bets if you are not looking for high optimizations. For iOS and macOS, choose Objective-C and / or Swift. Mobile development has ample room to pursue ambitions with Java, C ++, C #, Swift and other languages. Well, the web space will be an excellent springboard for HTML, JavaScript and a number of assistive technologies. In general, skilled programmers can create games in any language they want. So the most important thing is to learn the necessary technologies, learn how to write good code, and, of course, be in love with gamedev. Then you will definitely succeed. Go now and get help creating your mobile game or order development from scratch.

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